Photo credit: Culture OC
Late last year, Culture OC, which has a media partnership with the OC Theatre Guild, featured Music Restored: The Ziering-Conlon Center for Exiled and Suppressed Composers and the work James Conlon has made a personal mission for the past 25 years.
“Music Restored Celebrates the Work of Composers the Nazis Tried to Erase” highlights Conlon’s discovery of how the relatively unknown composer Alexander von Zemlinsky’s life was affected by the Nazi Party, which then prompted Conlon to delve deeper into investigating and sharing information about the many composers whose lives and work were radically altered or silenced during the years 1933–45. It also follows the journey his efforts have taken to date, from adding the composers to repertoire, to the OREL Foundation and now his focus as artistic director for Music Restored.
The feature article also touches on the expanding support for Music Restored, spotlighting pianists Aaron Zhu and his sister Celine Zhu, as youth ambassadors bringing these composers’ music and stories to new audiences. Aaron is a graduate of and Celine is currently a student at the Colburn Community School of Performing Arts.
“Our immediate purpose … is to introduce this subject to the students of the Colburn School and encourage the performance of as many works as possible,” Conlon was quoted. “These young musicians are the ones that are charged with the challenge and responsibility of bringing this music forward for the next 50 years.”